


to the moon and back (you still love me more than that)

by ryneisaterriblefan



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Crack Treated Seriously, Domestic Fluff, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Girls Kissing, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, THATS, anyways!, thats bokuaka, yuri? kakie?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:35:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21919183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryneisaterriblefan/pseuds/ryneisaterriblefan
Summary: Yukie manages to convince Bokuto to fake-date Akaashi so that they will actually get together.In the process, she gets herself a wife.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Bokuto Koutarou & Shirofuku Yukie, Shirofuku Yukie/Suzumeda Kaori
Comments: 1
Kudos: 41
Collections: Haikyuu Secret Santa 2019





	to the moon and back (you still love me more than that)

**Author's Note:**

> title is from 'moon and back' by alice kristiansen!  
> ok so um this is kinda literally my first wlw fic and im kinda nervous haha lol 
> 
> this is for haikyuu secret santa for this year! i hope you enjoy, erine! (also i hope i put this in the right collection lmao)

‘Bokuto-san, no, everyone’s going to be there, why don’t you bring your significant other?’

‘E-eh? I don’t have anyone!’

‘Oh? But I thought you and Akaashi-san…’

‘What! No! Me and Akaashi are just friends! Why would you say that!’

Kaori’s cheeks are puffing up from stifling her laughter, and Yukie’s also trying her hardest not to laugh. ‘It’s fine, Bokuto-san, we won’t judge you! You do know I’m gay, right?’

‘No! I mean! Yes,’ Bokuto squawks form the other side of the phone, ‘I mean! I’m really not together with Akaashi!’

‘Aw, that’s a shame,’ Yukie teases, ‘But—I talked to Konoha-san earlier, and he said he was bringing his boyfriend! Do you know how much he’ll make fun of you when he finds out he’s gotten a boyfriend before you?’

There’s silence, and Yukie knows she’s won when Bokuto’s slightly-near-to-despair voice floats out. ‘Yukieeeee, what do I dooooooo…’

‘Well,’ she says, demonic tone lacing into her voice, ‘You could find someone to date?’

‘But!’ Bokuto objects, ‘I’m not even close to anyone! How could I find someone?’

‘I mean,’ Yukie says, shrugging and shooting a look to Kaori, who rolls her eyes, ‘You _could_ just date Akaashi.’

‘Eh?! What! No I can’t!’ Bokuto immediately exclaims, ‘Akaashi’s just so—he’s just so _him,_ y’know? He’s perfect and beautiful! He’ll never agree to date someone like me.’

_Right. If this isn’t gay I don’t know what this is,_ Yukie thinks exasperatedly.

‘Cheer up, captain,’ she says, ‘Hey, what about—just ask Akaashi to fake-date you? I mean, he’s generally nice, so he’ll probably agree. Especially if you promise to do something nice for him?’

‘That sounds like bribery,’ Bokuto says dejectedly.

‘Hey, it’s Akaashi’s choice,’ she says, ‘Besides, you know that Konoha-san will probably tell Kuroo-san and then your life will be over.’

Kaori huffs a laugh at Yukie’s overstatement, but she, like Yukie is very _Done_ with Bokuto and Akaashi pining for each other, so she doesn’t really say anything.

‘Hey, why not just try it?’ Yukie suggests, ‘Akaashi’s a nice guy. He won’t just stop being friends with you just because you asked to fake-date him.’

‘I know that,’ Bokuto whines, ‘It’s just scary!’

Yukie raises an eyebrow, even though she knows Bokuto can’t see her, ‘And why’s that?’

‘I don’t know? Maybe I don’t want to lose this friendship? Akaashi’s a great person, y’know!’

Yukie rolls her eyes. _God, the amount of repression and denial…_

‘Yes, you’ve told us a thousand times.’

‘See!’ he nearly shouts, ‘That’s why! He’s a great a person! That’s why I can’t lose him!’

‘Uh huh, yes sure,’ Yukie tells him, ‘Then if he’s that great, he won’t hate you for asking to fake-date him, right?’

Bokuto sighs. ‘Fine. If anything goes wrong, I’m blaming you.’

‘As you always do,’ Yukie sighs, ‘We’ll see you next week, then! Don’t forget to come with Akaashi!’

Without waiting for an answer, Yukie hangs up and ends up collapsing on the couch before bursting into laughter.

‘Step 1, complete,’ Kaori says with a smile on her face, and Yukie tries her hardest to calm her racing heart as Kaori slings an arm over her shoulders.

Yukie’s _so_ gay, but at least she isn’t as repressed as Bokuto—or worse, Akaashi—is, so she figures it’s not _that_ bad.

While what they said was not the complete truth, it isn’t a lie either. Which is it say—Konoha _does_ have a boyfriend, but the party being hosted is only for Fukurodani members, and unfortunately, Konoha’s boyfriend does not meet the requirements.

So that leaves Bokuto and Akaashi together.

‘Consider this as my revenge for Bokuto never returning my notebooks,’ Yukie tells Kaori right before the party.

Kaori raises her eyebrows. ‘It seems more like a gift, Yukie.’

‘It’s a gift for me,’ Yukie proclaims, ‘To finally see those two stop pining and finally get together ever since Bokuto’s been pining over him in his second year.’

‘Whatever you say,’ Kaori says, and then, ‘Yukie, we ran out of juice.’

‘Dammit,’ Yukie curses, ‘I’m sorry, can you please go to the store? I wanna finish these balloons.’

Kaori, literal angel, walks out of the kitchen and smiles at her. ‘No problem,’ she says, grabbing her purse and phone from the table, ‘Be right back, love you!’

‘Love you too!’ Yukie calls out, and then the door closes. Yukie burrows her face in her hands. _Everything she does to you is platonic! Remember that, you idiot!_

Taking a deep breath, she continues to blow up the balloons.

Konoha and Sarukui are the first to arrive, and they envelop Yukie in a hug. ‘I missed you guys,’ she says, because she really doesm and she hasn’t even seen them since some years ago. ‘Have you grown even taller?’

They both laugh at her, because of course they’re giants and Yukie is left in the dust—even Kaori is taller than her, dammit!—and then other people start arriving.

Kaori and Yukie tell everyone to make themselves at home, with the not-so-subtle threat of making them clean up if anything drastic happens, and because this is her apartment and she has bragging rights, she starts talking about Yukie and Kaori’s achievements.

For herself, it’s not much, but Yukie is gay and she absolutely loves Kaori very much, so she isn’t going to pass up any chance of boasting about how Kaori got amazing grades in almost all her semesters, and the group listens with varying attention.

Paper plates with food are passed around and for a moment, Yukie stops talking and focuses on enjoying her food.

‘Aren’t Bokuto and Akaashi rather late?’ Kaori asks, from where she’s seated at Yukie’s side.

‘Isn’t Bokuto always late, though?’

‘Yeah, but Akaashi always shows up early. I wonder if anything’s wrong.’

Yukie nods to let her know she’s listening, but she is also stuffing her own face with food so she doesn’t really have enough breath to talk.

And then the doorbell rings, and Yukie mourns the loss of her food as she makes to get up.

Instead, Kaori pats her arm and tells her to keep eating. Yukie’s eyes shine with unshed tears as she shouts ‘I LOVE YOU KAORI’ through her mouthful of food.

Yukie manages to gulp down her food by the time Akaashi and Bokuto show up at their circle, and she notes with very visibly pleasure when she notices that their hands are linked together. She makes eye contact with Kaori, just to nod and say _success_.

See—their two-step plan is ingenious. First, Yukie would get Bokuto to fake-date (or actually date, which would solve everything, but no, Bokuto isn’t that easy) Akaashi in time for the five-year reunion.

Step two—talk very loudly about how the two were all over each other in highschool, which will make them realize that they’ve been _very_ gay for each other since the day they met.

It’s a foolproof plan, Yukie decides—as much as it can be when it is about fools in love.

She settles the two beside her, and Akaashi nods in thanks when she hands him a paper plate to start eating. Bokuto, as always, doesn’t even take a plate before he’s gobbling up chucks of meat.

‘Bokuto-san,’ Akaashi admonishes quietly, ‘Manners.’

‘Ne, Akaashi!’ Bokuto says very loudly, ‘ _Babe._ Love of my life, the moon to my sun, the light to my entire life, _meat_ is made for shoveling down my throat! I can’t just eat slowly!’

Throughout Bokuto’s entire sentence, Akaashi’s face starts flushing red. It’s funny, Yukie notes, instead of blushing like people usually do, Akaashi’s blush starts from his neck and slowly rises up to envelop his entire face in red. It’s endearing at least, she thinks.

Konoha wolf-whistles, and Bokuto seems to realize what he’s said, so instead of continuing, he shoves more food down his throat, looking like he wants to swallow up his embarrassment as well.

‘Oh?’ Yukie says, smiling, ‘Did you two finally get together?’

Akaashi nods, and that is enough. The entire circle breaks out into cheers, and there are people congratulating them every second.

Throughout everything, Bokuto’s smile is blinding, even though he looks like he simultaneously wants to drown himself in embarrassment, and Akaashi’s taken to hiding the lower half of his red face.

How cute. Yukie wants to coo.

‘Now, now, everyone,’ Yukie calls out, ‘Everyone, calm down. Let’s give the new couple some space, huh? After all, they might need to catch up on years of feelings!’

Someone clears their throat. ‘That’s right! When did you guys even get together?’

Bokuto squeaks out, ‘One week.’

‘Woah, only that much? I swear you guys were like, literal star-crossed lovers in third year!’

This is obviously said in jest, but the pair looks away, and Yukie excitedly grins at Kaori. Bokuto stuffs even more food down his throat.

Someone else laughs and adds on, ‘Yeah! Hey, Bokuto, remember when you talked about him non-stop for a week after you met him?’

Bokuto’s eyes widen. To a random observer, nothing would me amiss, but Yukie isn’t any random person—she’s suffered both of their pining sides, so it’s only fair that she notices the look Bokuto and Akaashi send to each other—Bokuto flustered and worried, and Akaashi silently reassuring Bokuto that everything’s alright.

Yukie hopes that she isn’t making things too hard for their friends.

But Bokuto pining isn’t enough. Yukie knows that Akaashi knows Bokuto talks about him a lot, and that’s common knowledge for anyone who’s talked to Bokuto for more than five minutes.

So she sends one last prayer and dives headfirst into the conversation. ‘Yes, but what about Akaashi-san?’ she says jokingly, leaning over to punch him lightly on the shoulder, ‘Remember all the days you talked about Bokuto’s amazing spikes, Bokuto’s amazing body, Bokuto’s amazing everything?’

Akaashi’s blush is rising steadily, and Yukie giggles when Bokuto whips his head around to meet Akaashi’s eyes.

‘You talked about me?’ Bokuto says, voice wondrous and in awe, and Yukie wants to coo at how cute they are.

Akaashi, now that the truth has been said, can only nod his head and look away. Bokuto, instead of flushing daintily like Akaashi, erupts in a full-out blush, and at a loss of what to do, he starts shoving more food into his mouth.

And then Konoha butts in. ‘Ah, to think that our captain’s grown so much that he and our dear Akaashi-san have gotten together! Ah, Yukie, Kaori, do you have any alcohol?’

Yukie nods, and the conversation breaks off into their own sections as she hands out glasses for everyone. Once everyone has some kind of alcohol in their hands, Konoha raises his glass of wine.

‘Everyone! This is to Bokuto and Akaashi getting together!’

Everyone clinks their glasses together, and out of the corner of her eye, Yukie sees Kaori sip at her alcohol daintily, rather than follow Yukie’s example and down it like a madman.

‘Cheers!’ Yukie puts in, ‘To both Bokuto and Akaashi going through the five stages of grief when they were gay panicking about each other!’

This earns her a round of laughter and both Bokuto and Akaashi glaring at her, and Yukie tries to smile as innocently as she can without looking suspicious.

‘Well, okay everyone, we can stop teasing them,’ Kaori says, and Yukie almost snorts at how relieved Bokuto and Akaashi seem.

She lets it go. For now, she thinks, and laughs maniacally in her head.

It’s slightly later in the night, when most people are tipsy and they’ve gotten up and now everyone is either standing or interspersed throughout their living room. Yukie herself is sitting on the couch, and watching her teammates either do a weird mockery of dance, or just stand around talking.

Bokuto and Akaashi are just—there, and Yukie feels frustration that the only interaction they’ve had is hand-holding.

Alright, maybe they aren’t comfortable with it, but it’s just! Physical contact! Usually, Bokuto would be much touchier with Akaashi—this is just some signal that’s something’s wrong!

Yukie groans into the arm of the couch, and Kaori, as she always does, seems to hear her and sends her a sympathetic look from across the room.

And then she goes over to Bokuto and Akaashi, and she murmurs something. Yukie can’t hear her, but there’s a telling signal when Bokuto’s ears flush red.

But they seem to agree to whatever is said—such is Kaori’s charm, Yukie sighs—and then Kaori walks over to her and pulls Yukie up.

‘I told them everyone should dance,’ Yukie says, eyes glinting, and Kaori wants to _kiss_ her.

‘I see,’ she says instead, grinning like a fool, ‘Is it?’

‘You may do the honors,’ Kaori teases her, and Yukie happily flounces over to where the speakers are attached to her phone and streams ballroom music.

Immediately, protests start to rise, but Kaori waves her hands and says, ‘Everyone! A dance to the new couple!’

Everyone does seem placated by that, and Yukie can’t help but feel her heart bursting with love when Kaori takes her hand and pulls her into the near- middle of the dancing room. Everyone pairs up as well, and everyone is laughing amongst themselves and stumbling and stepping on each other’s feet when Kaori leans forward.

Yukie’s heart damn near stops.

‘I’ll give you a push when Akaashi is behind you,’ she whispers, quiet enough not to be heard over the music, ‘You can stumble into him and push him forward to…you know what.’

Yukie almost squeals at hearing the plan Kaori has formed—really, she’s Yukie’s best friend for a _reason_ —and they don’t even have to wait much until Kaori gives her a light push and Yukie, with all the dramatic flair she can muster, topples backward onto Akaashi’s back. Yukie will only admit to herself that she missed Kaori’s hands on her waist.

She feels Akaashi’s surprise, the way he leans forward, and she stays like that for just a tad bit longer than necessary, and then after that, she springs up, ready to apologize, but someone—Konoha—catches her first and holds a finger to her lips, prompting her not to make a sound.

Yukie turns to see what’s happening—and she nearly squeals out loud.

Because! Because Bokuto and Akaashi are pressed against each other, faces _very_ close to each other and eyes half-lidded and _damn_ Yukie’s fangirl is shooting through the roof right at that very moment.

_And then they lean closer!_ They lean closer to each other! And then their lips are almost touching, and Yukie internally thanks the person who turned off the crappy ballroom music and then—and then they’re about to kiss—!

—only for Bokuto to take a step back.

Yukie almost cries out in frustration. They’d—she’d—been so close!

_So close,_ dammit!

And then Bokuto takes a deep breath, and proclaims, very loudly, ‘Akaashi and I are not dating!’

The whole room falls even more silent than before. Yukie wants to _cry._

‘And, Akaashi, I’m sorry for everything!’ Bokuto says, and his hands aren’t on Akaashi anymore, but they’re trembling at his sides. ‘I—I asked you to pretend to be my boyfriend despite knowing that I had a major huge crush on you! I—I just—I just felt like, even if you didn’t like me, even if you hated me, then I could enjoy this one night, even pretending, to be together with you! But—but I can’t. I just. I just feel so _guilty,_ ‘Kaashi, I’m, I’m sorry about everything. Sorry for forcing you into this, and I’m sorry.’

Yukie feels her eyes widen more and more throughout this entire confession—so that means her plan worked! Not in the way she expected, but still!

Before a shellshocked Akaashi can reply, though, Bokuto powers through, ‘But! After everything, after everything everyone else said, I have—I have reason to believe that you—that might like me back, that you might even have wanted me for as long as I’ve wanted you, so. So can I ask you something, Akaashi?’

Slowly, very slowly, Akaashi nods.

Everyone watches with bated breath, and the silence stretches into forever.

Bokuto’s still looking at Akaashi, eyes filled with love and wonder and hope, and Yukie wonders how it would feel to have someone look at her like that.

‘Akaashi Keiji,’ Bokuto says, voice barely wavering, ‘Will you be my boyfriend? For real this time?’

_Damn._ Yukie almost cries at the way Akaashi’s eyes grow wider, and she squeals internally as a faint flush starts to form on Akaashi’s face. _So cute!_

‘Yes,’ Akaashi says, voice faint, after a few seconds, ‘ _Yes_ , Bokuto-san.’

‘Akaashi!’ Bokuto says, laughing loud and exuberant, ‘We’re _dating_! You can’t call me that anymore!’

Akaashi raises an eyebrow, perfectly saying _watch me_ , but in the end he sighs, acquiesces, and says, ‘Koutarou.’

Bokuto’s squeal is almost as loud as the one that Yukie lets out in her secret fujoshi heart.

And the look Kaori sends her way says that it isn’t much of a secret anymore.

Everyone is cheering and wolf-whistling as Bokuto and Akaashi look at each other with love-struck eyes, and Yukie sighs happily as they finally, _finally,_ get together.

Bokuto, still lost in his own little world that is Akaashi, leans down and kisses him.

And then someone shouts out, obviously a joke, ‘Woah, that’s fast, guys! You guys should go ahead and get married while you’re at it!’

Everyone laughs, and then someone nudges her, ‘Hey, you and Kaori should get married, just to celebrate this special occasion!’

Yukie blames her tipsy head entirely for what she does next.

‘Everyone!’ Yukie calls out, ‘Attention, please!’

Some heads do turn her way, but most are still eying Bokuto and Akaashi shamelessly—honestly! Yukie would have thought that at least _Akaashi_ would have some modesty, but that is _clearly_ not the case here.

‘Ahem! Everyone!’

Yukie takes a deep breath and hopes Kaori forgives her for what she does next.

‘EXCUSE ME!’

And finally, everyone turns to look at her, and once Yukie’s sure she has everyone’s attention, she walks to Kaori, who’s leaning against one of the far walls.

‘Suzumeda Kaori,’ she says, getting down on one knee, ‘We’ve known each other all throughout highschool, we’ve giggled in class together and heck, we even shipped Bokuaka together!’

Someone says _the fuck?_ in the background.

‘I went through a lot of my life with you, and now—now we’re still friends, and—I’ve never told you this before, but—I love you! I know I say it a lot, but I love you from the bottom of my heart and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you. And maybe this is too quick, too sudden, and gay marriage isn’t even legal here but I still love you and I hope you’ll accept me one day, so—‘

Yukie takes a deep breath. ‘So, please, Suzumeda Kaori—marry me!’

Silence.

Yukie tries not to take pleasure in the way Kaori’s pretty brown eyes are widening, but it’s hard to ignore the way Kaori’s eyes are glimmering under the shitty light of their shared apartment.

Woah—holy shit, is she _crying_? Kaori’s a _way_ better actress than Yukie’s known!

‘Yukie,’ she says, and her hands are covering her mouth, muffling her, but it’s still loud and clear to Yukie’s ears when—

‘ _Yes!_ ’

Yukie has the _bestest_ friend _ever_.

She grins, jumping up and hugging Kaori as tight as she can. ‘Thank you,’ Yukie whispers in Kaori’s ear, and the hug gets tighter in response.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she can see Bokuto and Akaashi and she smirks at them.

The night passes in rounds of congratulations.

Yukie is a functional member of society, and therefore, she ends up drinking so much that she wakes up with the worst hangover the next day.

The thing about her is that she doesn’t really remember what she does, so Yukie just hopes that nothing too embarrassing happened and get on with her day. Even with that though, she still remembers that she got _fake married_ to her best friend, who she is _in love with,_ and that thought makes her want to scream into the pillow.

Fortunately, because Kaori is in the bathroom, Yukie has all of ten minutes to tire herself out screaming into the pillow.

The whole team is gathered in this city for a week, just for the express purpose of this reunion—it was Bokuto who urged everyone to crash Yukie and Kaori’s apartment for the party—and because everyone’s just so close, they intend to spend the week playing volleyball and walking around to see the sights, the latter part of which both of them have graciously declined. Both of them already know the place by heart, and besides, Yukie has too much homework to catch up on.

But they do agree to go and watch the team play volleyball on the weekend.

Yukie’s lost touch with volleyball after she left Fukurodani, but the sounds and smell and well, _everything_ , brings memories of laughing with her teammates and putting make-up on Akaashi back and she has the urge to prepare drinks for her team.

‘They haven’t really changed, have they?’Kaori says, smiling in the team’s direction. Yukie smiles in hers. Because of their impromptu proposal, they’ve taken to holding hands and being generally affectionate with each other—not that they aren’t usually—when they hang out together with the others.

‘No, especially Bokuto,’ Yukie says, ‘Do you think he’s found some other person to steal notes from?’

Kaori laughs, tinkling and sweet, and Yukie falls in love all over again, ‘It doesn’t count as stealing them if he just never bothers to return them, does it?’

‘You have a point.’

And they lapse into a silence, comfortable, and Yukie slides herself closer to Kaori. She doesn’t think the other will notice, but Kaori turns and smiles and tugs her closer so that they’re pressed up against each other’s sides.

Yukie’s big gay heart goes _BA-DUMP, BA-DUMP_ at this.

Someone wolf-whistles from the side, and Yukie buries her head in her hands while Kaori laughs again.

She’s _so_ gay.

Everyone’s taking a break, when Bokuto pulls Yukie to the side and tells her, ‘Thank you.’

Yukie grins as she reaches a hand up to punch his arm, ‘No problem! Had to get you two to stop pining, after all!’

Bokuto glares at her half-heartedly, and then says, ‘So. I’m glad you’re with Kaori now.’

‘Huh?’ Yukie says, forgetting for a moment that, _right,_ she’s pretending to be married to Kaori, ‘Oh, yeah, me too.’

Bokuto grins at her, and says, totally sincere, ‘Well, I hope you two are happy together!’

Yukie laughs a bit to placate him, and ignores the way her heart hurts, just the tiniest bit.

Honestly, she thinks to herself during the night, when Kaori’s snoring lightly beside her, she should just thank Kaori and get it over with. She doesn’t know why she’s letting this go on. This is just going to hurt her in the long run. Yukie doesn’t even know why she did that—that, stupid thing, and she doesn’t even know why Kaori accepted her stupid proposal.

Maybe it’s all her repressed urges coming to bite her in the ass, but even then, they hold hands—platonically!—on a daily basis, and they’ve kissed each other on the cheek more times they can count. It’s not like their daily lives actually change, but Yukie has to learn to live with the fact that Kaori probably won’t ever return her affections, even if she’s bi as hell.

Yukie groans and stuffs her head into the pillow. Tomorrow, she thinks, after tomorrow, she can talk it out with Kaori and clear up all the misunderstandings or whatever, after everyone leaves, because Yukie isn’t mean and she doesn’t have the heart to crush everyone else’s hopes and dreams.

She shushes the part of herself that says that she just wants to draw it out for as long as she can.

And then Kaori rolls to her side of the bed and throws an arm around her waist and Yukie _squeaks._

The next day, everyone is pumped. They spend almost the entire day in the gym, with Yukie and Kaori cheering from them from the sidelines. They even let themselves roped into a few games, even though their skills are worse than abysmal with all the practice they _haven’t_ been getting.

And again, it’s during a break that Yukie mentally breaks out into hives.

She and Kaori are talking—conversing! Like friends do!—and then Kaori has stepped closer and Yukie could’ve _sworn_ that tiny hearts were going to come out of her own ears because _gaddamn_ , she’s so in love it’s almost stupid.

And then the worst thing thinkable happens.

Or maybe it’s not, but Yukie wants to cringe and go hide away in a hole for the rest of eternity, when—when someone starts playing _Kiss the Girl_ on their phone.

And then Kaori laughs, breath ghosting over her face, and Yukie gulps, mind suddenly blanking out at how close Kaori is to her in that exact moment.

‘Hi,’ Kaori whispers, teasingly, and Yukie feels her soul leave her body.

‘Hi,’ she squeaks out in return and then—

—and then Kaori kisses her, and Yukie, after a startled second, kisses back.

_This is for the audience,_ Yukie tries to remind herself, but it’s hard to remember that one small fact when Kaori’s lips are so, _so_ soft and all Yukie wants is to melt against her and cuddle with her for the rest of time.

When Kaori pulls away, mouth slightly tilted up in a half-smile, Yukie is breathing harshly, and she’s sure that her entire face is red and she probably looks worse than a tomato—no, scratch that, she probably looks worse than Bokuto when he first saw Akaashi in a skirt for the first time—and all she can do is squeal and bury her face in her hands.

All around her, everyone is either cheering or laughing or wolf-whistling, and Yukie feels her face flush more than it already is, and she peeks up just in time to see Kaori’s heavenly laugh.

_Jesus. She would die for this woman._

After that, after their teammates leave, things go back to normal. Yukie never really gets around to talking to Kaori about the whole proposal thing, but she figures that since Kaori knows her so well, she won’t really mind, and she’ll probably know that Yukie was joke anyways.

Yukie wasn’t—she’d really love to marry Kaori, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

Yukie pushes away any and all of those worries, holds Kaori’s hand, and braves a new day.

(She doesn’t mention the way they’ve taken to cuddling on most nights. Granted, they used to do that before, but then it was because they had watched a scary movie, or because one of them had nightmares. They’ve never been as frequent as this, and Yukie tries not to let her heart—and maybe her entire being—implode when Kaori hugs her tight in her sleep and pulls her close every night.

It’s fine, she thinks, as her heartbeat finally settles down, and she moves to hug Kaori back, everything’s just fine. Just—just gals being pals.

It is not fine, she thinks, when she wakes up and Kaori’s face is just centimeters away from her own.)

They’re lying in bed together, one night, two weeks after the team leaves, and Yukie reaches over to grasp Kaori’s hand in the half-darkness.

‘Thank you,’ she says quietly, ‘for everything.’

And even though she can’t really see Kaori in the low light of their bedroom, Yukie still knows that Kaori is smiling that cute half-smile of hers.

‘What are you even thanking me for?’ she says, and Yukie feels her rub her thumb in circles on her hand.

‘Well, for everything,’ she gestures with her other hand, and turns to look at Kaori to see that she’s already looking at Yukie, ‘Like, y’know, for the party. For agreeing to fake-marry me, and all that. You’re a wonderful actress, did you know that?’

Kaori’s hand freezes.

Yukie stops too, heart thudding in her chest, feeling that something isn’t _quite_ right.

‘Yukie,’ Kaori says quietly, voice soft, ‘What do you mean, fake-marry?’

‘Uh,’ Yukie says, because she’s _such_ an eloquent person, ‘Um, I meant…not real marriage?’

‘Well yeah,’ Kaori says, rolling her eyes, ‘I got that. I meant—you don’t actually want to get married?’

Yukie blinks. Is she just projecting, or does Kaori actually sound a bit _sad_? She shakes her head, trying to get rid of the thought, but Kaori takes that another way, and her hand starts to retreat from Yukie’s.

‘No!’ Yukie bursts out, tightening her grip on Kaori’s hand, ‘I meant—I mean yes! I mean, like! I _do_ wanna marry you! It’s just—I mean, we haven’t even dated, why would—why would you say yes, in the first place!’

Yukie can’t stop the flow of words coming out from her mouth, and she sits up suddenly, ‘You! You, Suzumeda Kaori, I’ve loved you for forever! I love you almost as much as I love food! I just—why are you even sad that we’re not getting married!’

And then Kaori sits up slowly, and Yukie fears her reaction, that she’ll be shunned for liking her best friend. Rationally, she knows, that Kaori wouldn’t do that, she’s the nicest girl Yukie’s ever known, but irrationality wins over in this moment of panic, and Yukie’s hands end up trembling in Kaori’s grasp.

There’s a tense moment of silence, and then Yukie—

—Kaori bursts out laughing.

Yukie can only stare as her best friend doubles over in laughter, hair spilling out freely over her shoulders, almost entirely shaking as huge laughs escape her, and Yukie can’t help but thinking that this is the most beautiful sight she’s ever seen, in the shitty light of their apartment.

It takes a long while for Kaori to calm down entirely, and by then Yukie is in nervous jitters, because she _still_ hasn’t received an explanation for her outburst, and even though Yukie knows that her friend is amazingly nice and that she won’t ever laugh at someone else’s feelings—she still has a right to be scared!

‘Oh, Yukie,’ Kaori finally says, eyes shining with unshed tears, ‘Yukie, I love you—romantically—but you’re an _idiot._ ’

‘Well, gee, thanks, that helps so much,’ Yukie says, rolling her eyes, ‘Wait, did you just say—‘

‘Yes, Yukie. I do love you.’

‘Oh.’ It takes a moment for her to actually register the words, ‘Wait, _what?’_

‘I thought you knew,’ Kaori explains, laughing lightly, ‘I once told you, remember?’

‘Uh,’ Kaori wracks her brain, but she’s absolutely sure that if her crush since high school has said _I love you_ in any other sense than platonic, Yukie’s _sure_ that she would’ve noticed it. ‘No…?’

And instead of being upset, Kaori—an angel, the love of Yukie’s life—just laughs slightly, and leans forward a tiny bit.

‘Yukie,’ she says softly, just enough to make Yukie shiver, ‘Yukie, we’ve been dating since our third year.’

Yukie’s so shocked that she doesn’t even say anything, and she’s pretty sure that she resembles a deranged fish out of water, but Kaori is patient. She waits until Yukie can think enough to screech out a ‘WHAT’ that the neighbors will probably complain about the next morning.

‘Yukie,’ Kaori says again, patiently, like she’s talking to a child, ‘Yukie, you asked me out.’

‘I—I don’t remember it.’

‘It was the night of our last training camp, remember? We were drunk, and you asked me out in front of everyone.’

‘Oh,’ Yukie says, and then, ‘OH.’

‘Yeah,’ Kaori smiles, ‘Remember now?’

‘NO,’ Yukie says, and before the smile slips off Kaori’s face, she says, very loudly, ‘KAORI, I HAVE SHIT TOLERANCE I LITERALLY DON’T REMBER ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AFTER OR DURING THAT I’M SO SORRY—‘

Kaori laughs, sweet and beautiful, and Yukie wants to cup her cheeks in her hands and just kiss her silly.

And then she realizes—she can actually do that now.

And so, with the grace of Bokuto around Akaashi, she does that—she leans forward and, as slow as she can, pecks Kaori on the lips.

Kaori bursts out laughing, and Yukie lens back with a startled laugh.

‘Kaori!’ she admonishes, ‘What was that for!’

‘Nothing!’ Kaori says, laughing, ‘You were just so cute!’

Yukie feels her cheeks flushing, and says, ‘No I’m not.’ A thought occurs, ‘Wait, why did no one mention it after everything?’

‘They did,’ Kaori tells her, ‘You just laughed it off, so I thought you didn’t wanna talk about it.’

Yukie falls silent for a moment, and then, ‘Wait—so all the hand-holding and kissing—‘

‘All romantic,’ Kaori confirms, and Yukie kind of wants to crawl in a hole and die of embarrassment, ‘What, did you think I was just kissing you for fun?’

‘I mean!’ Yukie tries to defend herself, hands flailing, ‘I used to do it platonically, so!’

‘Uh huh,’ Kaori says, obviously not believing her, ‘What about when we kissed in the gym?’

‘That was—I thought that was to make the others believe that we’re married!’

And then Kaori bursts out in another fit of laughter, and Kaori can only watch, hopelessly in love as tears start running down Kaori’s cheeks. ‘Don’t laugh at me,’ she pouts, and that only makes Kaori’s laughter grow louder.

‘Ah, Yukie,’ Kaori finally says, wiping her eyes, ‘What would I do without you?’

Yukie can’t really find an answer to that, so she chooses to curl up into a ball and hide from her embarrassment.

Despite that, she still has to ask one last question. ‘But—it’s been, what, four, five years already? Why haven’t we done anything yet?’

At this, Yukie laughs sheepishly. ‘Well, uh, I told you that night that I wanted to take things slow. And stuff. And you agreed. So I just thought—‘

It’s Kaori’s turn to break out into laughter, but she can’t stop, breaths coming out quick and huffy, because her heart’s so full of love and joy and appreciation for this wonderful girl—woman—in front of her that she feels like she might burst.

With that, she tackles Kaori to the bed, rolling around in breathless laughter. ‘Are you serious?’ she asks, still laughing a bit, ‘It’s been years! That—that’s so slow!’

‘Yeah, well,’ Kaori says blush rising on her cheeks as she places her hands on Yukie’s waist, ‘I was ready for a while, but whenever I tried to make a move, you’d get distracted by completely random things!’

‘Oh my god,’ Yukie laughs, looking down at Kaori’s pouting face, ‘Are you kidding me? I was pretending to be interested in those other things! I had no idea you actually wanted to kiss me!’

And then both of them start laughing, loud and obnoxious, and Yukie’s eyes start pooling with tears from laughing so hard.

Once everything calms down—as much as they can—Yukie slumps down and cuddles against Kaori’s side. ‘I would’ve done this more if I knew earlier,’ she mumbles, holding Kaori close. _She’s so good to cuddle, godammit._

‘It’s not my fault you’re a lightweight,’ Yukie points out, turning around and slinging an arm around Yukie’s waist.

‘It’s not my fault you have repressed communication issues and didn’t talk to me about our relationship for _five years,_ but okay, blame me for everything,’ Yukie fake-sniffs.

Kaori laughs above her head, and then decides to concede. Yukie’s so happy and overjoyed and literally so _in love_ , but she’s also tired and she’s almost on the verge of sleep when Kaori says, ‘Hey, Yukie?’

‘Hm?’

‘Is your marriage offer still on the table? I mean,’ Kaori says, with a teasing lilt to her voice, ‘We just only started dating recently, so I understand if you want to take things slow…’

Yukie kicks her off the bed.

And then Kaori grabs her leg and pulls her down as well, and finally, _finally,_ Yukie gets to kiss the love of her life senseless.

**Author's Note:**

> ahhhh im sorry if anything was too unbelievable! i was going to go with the first idea but then this popped up into my head lol
> 
> even if its not what you were expecting, i still hope you enjoyed!! merry christmas!
> 
> (my tumblr's ryneisaterriblefan, and any constructive criticism is welcome!)


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